Developmental Milestones

(Middle childhood 6-11 years old)

Children at this age become more social, they develop more lasting friendships, and tend to seek out peers with whom they have more in common. Children are also more aware of cultural differences than before. And are also more aware of gender differences, and begin to seek out social hierarchy.

Physical Development

The average 8 year old weighs about 55-60 pounds; girls typically weigh less than boys, while children grow an average of 2.5 inches per year, at stage children tend to look tall and lanky because of arm leg growth (Allen and Marotz, 2010). this and

Girls at this age develop quicker than boys; some begin having menses, and even have the beginning signs of onset of puberty with enlarging breasts and pubic hair.

girls the

Language Development

Children at this age practice their social skills by telling jokes and stories; they can follow simple five step instructions, and reads without difficulty. Children use language to criticize others, compliment others, and practice slang and curse words (Allen & Marotz, 2010).

Children can understand grammar functions in reading and speaking, and have made up their own secret language for communication with friends. One poplar language code is similar to ung language in which children spell out the words adding ung to the end of each consonant and the vowels are used in long vowel method except for y which is treated as a consonant, and the letter c is treated as a vowel, for example truck = tung rung u c kung, and play= pung lung u yung. These types of secret messaging systems help children with learning spelling in a way that is fun.

Cognitive Development

Children at this age are collectors; they not only collect items, but also have unique and multiple ways of categorizing them. Such as, flowers which have red tips, and sticks which can be used as magic wands.

Children at this age have developed the concept of money, and know how to utilize it as well as developing ideas on how to make money (Allen and Marotz, 2010). While children have ideas about wanting to make money, they do not have cognitive self regulation enough to be able to put together a concrete plan of action, which included minor details (Berk, 2013).

Social Development

Children at this age form opinions about moral values and attitudes, declaring things to be right, or wrong, fair or unfair. Children at this age still prefer to be with friends of the same gender, continue to blame others, or makes up alibis for mistakes, enjoys spending time on the phone or computer with friends, enjoy sports, and other extracurricular activities.

Cultural Development

Children begin to take pride in their cultural heritage, enjoy spending more time learning about their culture, and are introduced to other cultures through school and social events, and in their community. Children at this age are also more susceptible to gang involvement because they have a desire to belong to a group, but feel the family structure is immature for their social needs.

Atypical Development

Signs of atypical development include, when a child of this age fails to exhibit a good appetite, or fails to gain weight normally, experiences the same or more illnesses as when they were younger, show no improvement in motor skills, does not follow through with simple instructions, cannot clearly express ideas or concepts, doesnt not understand abstract ideas or does not use critical thinking skills for problem solving (Allen & Marotz, 2010).

Strategies to Help Families Influence Learning and Development

Provide and play games with your children that require a moderate degree of strategy such as chess, or Statigo computer games that are age appropriate, and any board game that requires choices. Provide age appropriate family video games and sports activities.

Provide a variety of physical activities that allow your child to make safe choices and encourage sports, dance or other physical activity that requires some memory skills or critical thinking. And give your child chores that are done on a daily basis to help your child learn to stick with doing things and not give up too quickly. Also try to involve children in

extracurricular and summer activities that allow some independence while providing safety and structure such as summer camps, martial arts, dance, sports, music camp, computer camp etc